


HELLFIRE AND REVELATION

by Swifters



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, First Kiss, Hurt Steve, Magic, Protective Danny, Trapped in the pits of hell, awakening feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-15 22:37:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5802988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swifters/pseuds/Swifters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Danny are trapped together in a dark and terrifying place. A written-to-order giftfic for praemonitus_praemunitus. Happy Birthday lovely woman!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Trapped

**Author's Note:**

> A few weeks back I offered to have a go at writing a gift fic for Praemonitus Praemunitus' birthday. She challenged me with a lovely, detailed prompt for it which can be summarized as; Steve and Danny trapped together somewhere scary and supernatural, hurt Steve, protective Danny, eventual McDanno.
> 
> I have tried... Happy Birthday, PP!
> 
> Thanks to Calacious for support and comments, IC and KQ for kicking me up the ass and cheering me on (this was slightly moving away from my comfort zone.. but I actually really enjoyed it in the end!)
> 
> WARNINGS- bad language, injury

HELLFIRE AND REVELATION

Danny was hot and Danny was scared.

He didn’t know where they were, but it was fucking dark and there was just no air and the panic from that alone was threatening to overwhelm him. He really, really wished Steve could wake up and switch into superSEAL mode. He wished Steve could leap into action and tell him how the hell they were meant to get out of there because Danny was a _cop_ not a freaking superhero and he simply didn’t know what to do.

But it wasn’t going to happen.

The sound of Danny’s heart beating, hard and fast, echoed in his own ears. The noise seemed deafening and, in combination with his ragged breathing, _had_ to be audible. He tried to calm down so he could listen. Listen for that _thing._ It was hunting them. He could _feel_ its presence, for all he could no longer hear it or see it, which was fucking nuts. But how did prey sense predator in any situation? Perhaps it was pure instinct.

There was a big, fat, cavernous gap in his memory that entirely removed his ability to account for how he and Steve could have been in Akune Manahu’s lavish house with the rest of the team, searching systematically for the missing teenagers one minute and the next... well, where? One blinding flash of light and the partners had materialized in what appeared for all intents and purposes to be hell; a hot, dark, fiery maze inhabited by _something_ that wanted to get them. Something big and strong and evil. He could smell it, all shit and hunger. He could hear it for all it moved quietly. It was heavy, beast-like and threatening. Not human. Not animal.

He wiped a shaking hand across his brow and pushed his back hard against the rock wall, tightening his grip on his limp partner. His eyes peered fearfully around him. The tunnel was dimly illuminated by a phosphorescent glow emanating from the rocks themselves. The eeriness of the dull green light did nothing to help Danny’s nerves but at least he could see _enough_ to be able to manage without his flashlight, leaving him both hands free- a small blessing in an otherwise unfathomably shitty situation.

He needed to get up, they had to keep moving, he had to try to stay ahead of it. But Steve was heavy, Danny was tired and he really, really had no idea where he was going. He was _trying_ to find a way out, but there might not even _be_ a way out. He had already made a mistake that almost finished them. He had already chosen the wrong tunnel and ended up faced with an underground river of freaking _lava,_ the monster coming up behind them, nowhere to go… but then the beast had turned, gone another way at the last moment, leaving him stuttering for breath at the edge of the deadly flow, clothes singed and nerves shredded.

He was pretty sure he knew why it had spared them. It was toying with them. It knew they weren’t going down without a fight after their first encounter so it was taking its time. Following, manoeuvring, waiting for him to weaken, waiting to strike. It had underestimated them once. It wouldn’t make that mistake twice.

Danny fixed his attention on the unconscious man in his arms. He cupped Steve’s cheek, wiped the blood from his oozing temple yet again with his thumb. Steve, head and shoulders limp in Danny’s lap, remained quiet and still. It was scaring the shit out of Danny, if he was honest. The sickening crack as Steve’s head had struck the rocky wall of the tunnel replayed itself incessantly in his mind. Steve could be bleeding into his brain. He could have any number of internal injuries. He could be freaking dying in Danny’s arms and there would be literally nothing he could do about it.

Danny didn’t want to lose Steve. He couldn’t even begin to quantify what the man meant to him, didn’t pretend to understand their relationship, not really. It seemed to be one thing, then shifted towards another, then back again, always undefined beyond ‘partners’. That seemed to cover it as best as anything. Whatever. Steve had to live. That was the important part. They could worry about the rest after. Or never. He had to _live_.

“Steve. You’re gonna be okay. Hear me?” The words were barely audible because Danny didn’t dare to make a noise. He willed Steve to hear him, but Steve didn’t move. His jaw hung lax. Danny hoped to fuck his own words were true.   

Steve hadn’t so much as twitched since they had come face-to-face with the freaking monster, its bulk silhouetted in the green glow, its eyes shining red through the darkness.

The partners had stood shoulder to shoulder as they always did, even as they tried to take in the fact that they were being faced down by a thing that should _not_ exist, and let rip with their weapons. But to no effect. Multiple hits did _nothing_ but piss it off and it had advanced on them aggressively.

Then, because Steve was an utter bastard with some kind of hero complex and the survival instinct of a lemming, he had drawn his knife, told Danny to ‘run’ and launched himself at the thing.

Danny hadn’t run. Maybe he should have, maybe that would have been the sensible thing, but he had stayed and watched, frozen in disbelief, as the horrific David-and-Goliath moment had played out as if in slow-motion. Steve had leapt, no doubt trying to slit the beast’s throat.

It hadn’t worked.

The creature in the shadows with the eerie glowing eyes had batted Steve to one side like he was nothing. He had thudded sickeningly off the rock wall and landed still and broken on the ground, leg bent at a nauseating angle. Danny was left alone, staring up at the thing in horror.

He had emptied his gun into it, shouting manically, the noise echoing back to him like a thousand more terrified Dannys were trying to stop a monster from eating their partner.

Maybe it was that, or maybe he’d got lucky with a bullet, maybe it had a weak spot. Whatever, the thing had retreated. But not far. He could hear it moving about nearby, roaring again in undiluted fury.

They were fucked.

Danny tried to convince himself it wasn’t real. They weren’t really in a freakish underground maze at all, they hadn’t been transported in space and quite possibly time to some Minoan nightmare by means unknown. They’d been knocked out, that was all. Knocked out, maybe drugged with some freaking mad… shit. And stuck in lava tubes. That was it! Common or garden lava tubes in some godforsaken corner of Oahu. That was all. And the monster was nothing but some drug induced nightmare. They weren’t trapped and alone, Steve wasn’t seriously injured, they were just…

Then he heard it moving again. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. It was closer. Too close.

Arms and legs trembling, Danny pushed himself to his knees, hauled Steve up by his arms and draped him over his shoulders, raising him in a fireman’s lift. Danny staggered to his feet, his back screaming out at the effort because he might be strong, but Steve was big and fucking heavy and this was not the first time that day Danny had carried him like this in his vain attempt to get them away from the monster.

Danny pushed on.

He forced one foot in front of the other, one pained step at a time, pressing on, all the while feeling eyes on his back, seeing shapes lurking in the shadows as the inescapable stench of death and decay persisted in assaulting his nostrils. His breaths came thick and fast with physical strain and fear. Steve’s broken leg swung sickeningly as Danny moved. There was nothing Danny could do about it, he had to blank it out and he had to keep moving. It was maybe just as well Steve was unconscious.

Danny struggled on, hands tightening on his partner. Desperate to think about anything other than their situation, he thought about the next easiest thing; the man draped over his back. His brother. Wasn’t he? He had thought of Steve as his brother for so long. His comrade-in-arms, his borderline insane, often infuriating but endlessly dependable best friend. That was it. Or was it?

And that was the funny thing, because maybe Danny had genuinely thought that that _was_ it. Maybe. But, as it turned out, now that death was looking him square in the face, Danny found his life stripped down to the bare bones in his mind. One new, _huge_ fact was suddenly glaringly illuminated. Perhaps it should all have been clear to him before, but it quite simply hadn’t been.

Now it was undeniable and he knew without a shadow of doubt why the concept of running when Steve had effectively decided to sacrifice his life for Danny’s was entirely unthinkable. Sure, they were partners, he had Steve’s back, always, blah blah blah. And so on. But there was _so_ much more going on than just that….

“ _Fuck_!” he murmured, his little personal revelation shaking him to the core.

He wanted _more._ He didn’t just love Steve, he _loved_ him. Fuck. Shit. _Fuck_.

Of course, it was undoubtedly too late to do anything about it because they were both about to die. Maybe it was _because_ it was too late to do anything about it that he _was_ finally seeing it. Life liked to kick him in the nuts like that. At least he wouldn’t have to fuck about wasting his time with the stupid, obvious things he might have been agonizing over should the revelation have come in any other circumstance. Should I tell him? Is there even any slim chance it might be requited? Will he punch me in the face? Will I lose my best friend?

It was all entirely superfluous. Steve was unconscious and, even if he weren’t, there was really no need to make their last living moments potentially awkward.

Danny couldn’t help the hysterical little laugh that bubbled up from nowhere because he was even having this conversation with himself.

“D-Danny?” Steve’s weak voice croaked right next to Danny’s ear. It was followed up with a long, agonized moan that set Danny’s heart pounding for more than one reason.

“Shhhh, Steve, please.” Danny hissed, even as he knelt to lay Steve gently down, easing him into a seated position.

“Danny. My leg… _shit!”_   Steve moaned, then rasped in a pained breath between gritted teeth, then another, and another, each one sounding like an almost insurmountable effort.

“Steve, I’m sorry, I know, I’m sorry. Take it easy, huh?” Danny sat back against the wall of the tunnel and eased Steve down so his head and shoulders rested in Danny’s lap. He looked down at the distorted limb in despair. Steve shouldn’t be moved, or the leg should at least be splinted. Danny had nothing to do it with and they _had_ to move again soon. There was no choice. This was a fucking nightmare.

Tightening protective arms around his partner, Danny leant his head back against the rock, closed his eyes and listened, guts quaking. He couldn’t hear it. It was still waiting. He hoped to God it was intending to wait longer before it attacked again. Steve needed to rest. _He_ needed to rest.

“Danny. Why the hell didn’t you run?” The words came out in a weak whisper, but Steve still managed to sound pissed.

Danny looked down at him. “Wh-what?”

“I told you to run. Why did you stay?”

Danny looked at him, doubt in his eyes. If there was ever an opportunity for Danny to admit his newly-discovered feelings, this was it, handed to him on a plate. Now or never.

Danny opened his mouth… then immediately lost his bottle. So… never it was. “I’m not the swooning heroine in this situation, Steven, you don’t get to make that choice for me,” he snarked instead, resorting to familiar territory over melodramatic declarations of undying love. “We’re in this together. Besides, where was I meant to run to, huh? You know where the exit is because I sure as hell don’t?”

“Just _away._ You were meant to run away.” The frustration was clear in the quiet, tight voice. “Danny, I know you’re not a… a _swooning heroine_. Jesus! But you’ve got Gracie to think about and I’m expendable.  Can you never just do as I tell you? You remember I’m in charge, right? Next time we get a chance like that you do what I say. No discussion, no hesitation. Just run. _Try_ to get away.”

Danny laughed, incredulous, he couldn’t help it. “I don’t even know where to start with all of that. You have so many issues it’s not even funny. Expendable? Seriously? And ‘next time’? I’m sorry buddy, but you ain’t in any condition to be throwing yourself at that freaking _thing_ anytime soon.” He glared down at Steve, trying to keep the pain and concern out of his expression.

Steve met his gaze. “Danno, I can still slow it down,” he said, voice now soft.

A lump rose in Danny’s throat. Of course Steve would say that. Selfless bastard. Of course he’d just lay down his life, no hesitation whatsoever, to gift Danny the slimmest chance of escape. It was one of the many reasons Danny loved him so much. Too much. “Just… shut up, okay?” he choked out, somehow managing to sound pissed.

“I mean it, Danny. You get a chance, you go.”

Danny glanced at him, reading the pain, the determination in his partner’s eyes. He looked away. “Like I said, I don’t even know where to go. I already nearly ended up in a freaking lava flow.”

There was a protracted silence, broken only by Steve’s labored breathing, then the injured man’s lips parted again. “Magma.”

The word was grunted out quietly and Danny wasn’t sure he’d heard right. “Huh?”

“Magma. If it’s underground it’s called magma, Danny. It’s not lava till it comes out on the surface.”

Danny stared at him in disbelief. “Just… shut up. You’re a freak, you know that, right?” He tried to sound snarky but it was hard with the way his voice kept breaking.

Steve glared up at him, but then his face relaxed into a weak but undeniably affectionate smile before his eyes drifted shut.

The lump in Danny’s throat grew bigger, until he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

He didn’t want to lose Steve. He didn’t want to leave Steve. He _wasn’t_ going to leave him, no matter what. Not like this, not _here._ He lifted a hand to Steve’s face, stroked his cheek gently, then ran trembling fingers through the dark, sweat-soaked hair. His eyes filled with tears because he _wanted,_ but he was never going to have. He ducked his head, pressed a soft kiss to Steve’s forehead and prayed he wasn’t in pain at least.

He leaned back against the unforgiving rock, closed his eyes and tried not to think.

…………………………………….

Danny hadn’t heard the beast for at least an hour, if his watch was still anything like working right. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe it had lost interest. Maybe it had snuck ahead through the maze of tunnels and was lying in wait.

He was holding Steve steady across his shoulders with one hand and supporting himself, leaning against the tunnel wall, with the other.

His stamina was shot.

Steve was out cold. Danny could feel the shallow rise and fall of his chest against his back, knew he was still alive. That was something.

He hobbled on, making laudably slow progress towards God only knew what. Then he staggered to a halt. Something was different. It was still too hot but the general stench of the place didn’t seem quite so foul, so stagnant. Danny could hardly dare to let himself think there might be a source of clean air from outside somewhere near. There might be a way out of here, wherever the hell here was.

Heart in his mouth, he picked up speed.

The tunnel was lighter ahead. Danny’s hands began to tremble. It couldn’t be, there couldn’t be a way out! He pushed himself on, eyes taking in every detail- the uneven ground, the shadows cast all around him, clearer, better defined than before. The tunnel opening up ahead into a bright, light cavern which _had_ to be lit by actual real sunlight, there was no mistaking it. His face cracked into a disbelieving smile and he almost, almost lurched into a run.

He reached the end of the tunnel, burst through into the open cavern, turned around slowly, searching out the source of the light.

He could have cried.

There it was, high above them. A large, round opening, blue sky and puffy white clouds beyond. A mere thirty feet of cliff-face between them and potential freedom.

They couldn’t do it, couldn’t make the climb. _He_ might be able to do it, maybe, but no way if he was carrying Steve.

Danny sank down to his knees. He laid Steve down, grunting with the effort, then sat down beside him, staring up at that circle of sky and trying not to scream.

He shook himself, then pulled out his cell in the vain hope he might now have reception. He snorted. No, that would have been too easy. Maybe if he climbed to the opening, maybe his cell might work, maybe he could call for help. That could work, depending where on earth they were.

He glanced down at Steve then did a double take. His partner was awake and looking at him through tired eyes.

“Hey! Hey, how you doing?” Danny said softly, with a re-assuring smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

Steve shook his head, then looked pointedly up towards the hole in the rock and the bright blue sky. “Go.”

Danny nodded slowly. “Yeah, but just up there, just to try to make a call, yeah? I ain’t leaving you.”

Then they heard it. A movement, a snarl, a short way along the tunnel.

Their eyes met, fear and resignation exchanged.

“Danny, you go. _Now!_ ” Steve growled.

Danny shook his head, eyes flicking between the tunnel, the cave opening and Steve.

Crying out in pain, Steve pushed himself up into a seated position then slid himself backwards until he was leaning against the wall of the cavern, facing the mouth of the tunnel. He reached into a pocket in his cargo pants, pulled out a knife, then turned to look at Danny. He nodded once. “Go!”

“No!” Danny, still on his knees, reached towards Steve and tried to grab his arm, intending to pull him up over his shoulder and lift him again. He would _try_ to climb like that, even though he already knew it would be impossible. He _had_ to try.

But Steve shoved, hard, against his chest. “Will you just _go_?!” he yelled, “it’s coming! Go on, go… go get help. Get some rope. Anything. Just go. I’ll hold it off.” He glared at Danny furiously, daring him to object to his blatantly suicidal plan.

“I _can’t_ go.” Danny yelled right back at him.

Steve screwed up his face, clearly pissed and confused. “What the hell are you talking about? Why?”

They glared at each other, both breathing hard. Then Danny sagged, dropped his head down. He’d made his choice. He wasn’t leaving. The least he owed Steve was a proper explanation as to why he had elected to die by his side rather than try to run home to his daughter like he knew he _should_ do.

Danny nodded once, finally resolved, then looked up at Steve again, seeing the anger, the _fear_ on his partner’s face. He leaned forwards and pressed a kiss to Steve’s mouth, no hesitation, no fuss. “That’s why, okay? Idiot. Because of _that._ ”

Then Steve’s hand was back on his chest, trying to push him away. He was shaking his head, eyes wide with shock. “You’re a stupid bastard, Danno.” His voice cracked with emotion.

Danny set his jaw in determination, held Steve’s gaze. He wasn’t budging.

And then Steve grabbed him by the shirt, hauling him back in, kissing him hot and hungry.

Danny raised his hands to cup Steve’s cheeks, blinkering them to the outside world as they shared air and passion. It was everything, everything they should have been and could have had. First kiss, last kiss, promise of love, promise of a life together. Goodbye.

And the beast stepped closer.


	2. Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of the last chapter was the actual end of the story up until literally the day before I posted it. However, that seemed unduly mean so I muddled together a bit more!

CHAPTER 2

Lou bent down low and looked Akune Manahu square in the face. He curled his lip aggressively. “Tell me,” he spat, voice low and threatening. “ _Tell me._ I ain’t listening to your horse-shit no more. You tell me what happened, because I _know_ that you know where they are. I _know_ you’re responsible for this. I don’t know how… but you are. _Where. Are. They_?”

Manahu smiled a toothy smile at him, entirely unintimidated.

Lou stared back at him, suddenly breathing hard, shaking with the effort of restraining himself from tearing the smug bastard limb from limb because Steve and Danny were gone and the situation had spiralled rapidly from confusing to downright terrifying.

They had all seen _something_ of what happened. He, Kono and Chin had been right behind the now-missing partners as they had forced their way into Manahu’s house. They had _all_ seen Manahu try and fail to block their way into one of the rooms- as it turned out the one which housed the man’s extensive collection of ancient artefacts. They had _all_ seen the blinding flash of light emanate from that room after Steve and Danny had gone in, the flash of light that had been pre-empted by Manahu’s furious roar.

And then they were simply gone. No sign, nothing.

The team, with ample HPD support, had torn apart the house, the outbuildings, the grounds, literally. They had searched in desperation for trapdoors, hidden rooms, secret doors, concealed accomplices, feeling more like the freaking Hardy Boys than Five-0. But they had found nothing. Steve and Danny had disappeared… as, seemingly, had the three missing teenagers, the search for whom had brought them to the luxurious pad to begin with.

The teenagers’ cells had been all right there in Manahu’s house when they had last registered on the network. And that was it. They were just gone. The kids weren’t there, the cells weren’t there. Now Steve and Danny weren’t there. The house was a freaking black hole. Kono was still at it, still going over the place with HPD, in the hope they’d missed _something._

Lou stepped back from Manahu out of necessity, before he did something terminal. They had the Hawaiian man zip-tied to a chair in his own kitchen, out of the way of the search. They could _not_ make him talk. He was _speaking_ , sure, but making no sense, talking in riddles, going round in circles, telling them precisely nothing and smiling his infuriatingly condescending smile.

Lou paced to and fro between the bound man and Chin, then turned to his colleague. “Your turn, man. I’ve had it with this bozo.”

Chin shook his head slowly, unsure what approach there was left to even try. He sighed, pulled a second chair out from under the kitchen table and deposited it in front of Manahu. He sat down, knee-to-knee with the man. “Okay. Tell me again where the missing people are.”

“They are traveling.”

“Okay. So you said. Traveling where?”

“That I cannot say.”

“Wonderful. And how do we find them? How do we get them back?”

Manahu sighed deeply and shook his head. “I told you the answer. Ho’ihi.”

“Ho- what?” growled Lou.

“Respect. It means respect.” Chin said, staring at Manahu with a furious intensity. “But that tells us precisely nothing.”

Lou screwed up his face. “You know, you ain’t nothing but a manipulative asshole and if you don’t tell us where they are right now I ain’t gonna be responsible for my actions,” he hissed.

Manahu laughed, he actually laughed. “Everybody is responsible for their own actions, officer. And I’m not a ‘manipulative asshole’, as you so eloquently put it. I’m a kahuna.”

“A what?”

“Kahuna. It’s like a… a shaman. A sorcerer.” Chin kept his eyes on Manahu and tactically ignored Lou’s mumbled curse of exasperation. “So you’re a kahuna. But most kahunas are _healers_. They live amongst the community, try to help people. You live _here_ , in a multi-million dollar mansion with a security gate. And _nothing_ that’s happened here could be misconstrued as ‘helping.’ So what’s the real story, Manahu?” Chin was really trying hard to stay calm, but the anger was creeping into his tone.

Manahu snorted, shook his head. “My approach is my own but I do what I do to help. That is all.”

Lou stopped his pacing, looked over at Manahu in utter disbelief. “To help? You have _got_ to be kidding me! How does _any_ of whatever-the-hell has happened here help anyone?!”

Manahu just smiled his perpetual smile, unruffled by the big man’s tone, his body language. “Time must pass.”

Lou glared at him hatefully. “Again, so you said. But time must pass until WHAT!” He growled out the words through teeth gritted together so hard his jaw was starting to ache.

“The people you seek are still traveling.”

“Traveling? Do you have any idea how close you are to having my fist travel into your face, you evasive _bastard_?” Lou growled.

Manahu nodded. “Of course. That’s because you need to travel too. All of you.”

Lou screwed up his face in confusion. “What? Is that a threat? Are you threatening us right now because I would _not_ recommend that.”

The captive’s face finally fell and his expression became deadly serious. “Those children. They came into my house, claimed to want to learn. But they had no respect for our culture, for me, or for _anyone_. I had to _make_ them learn so they could be whole again.”

A chill ran down Lou’s spine. “Ohhhhh I get it. So you taught them a lesson, right? That’s virtually an admission, right there! And our colleagues? What lesson did they need, exactly?”

The bound man frowned. “They broke my front door, pointed guns in my face and ignored my polite requests to stay away from my priceless artefacts.”

Lou smiled mirthlessly. “I see. So they needed to learn some respect too, right? Is that your thing?”

Manahu nodded again, then leant forwards as far as his tied wrists would allow until his face was close to Lou’s. He whispered conspiratorially. “But they needed more than that, more than the children. Their true selves were buried beneath a lifetime of self-delusion. For some people death is the only route to truth. That is where their journey must lead.”

Lou’s stomach dropped. He grabbed the front of Manahu’s shirt with one big fist and twisted his hand, hard. “What? What have you done to them, you _bastard_! Are you saying they’re _dead_?”

Manahu shrugged “Sometimes a person has to die to see the truth. That was the journey your friends needed to take. I’m sorry for that, but it was the only way.”

Lou and Chin exchanged horrified looks, before Lou grabbed the front of Manahu’s shirt in one big hand and twisted the material, yanking the man towards him hard enough to make the chair rock. “Jesus! Where are they? WHERE ARE THEY???”

Manahu bared his teeth at him. “They. Are. TRAVELING! And you must accept your journey too. There is no other way.”

A strangled sound came out of Lou’s throat and he drew back his fist.

“Wait.” Chin’s hand was on his arm. “Lou, just wait. We know he didn’t actually touch them. We saw that. He wasn’t in the room, he was outside it. Right?”

Lou nodded tersely, dropped the prisoner and turned away abruptly, resuming his erratic pacing.

“Okay. _How_ did you send them on this ‘journey’?”

“Huna.”

Chin stared at him for a long moment. “Huna? Like spiritual magic? I thought Huna was meant to be about personal growth, not… making people disappear. That makes no sense.”

Manahu glared at him.

Chin shook his head, glanced up at Lou. “Okay, okay. Let’s say everything you’re saying is true and you’ve spun some magic spell to _help_ all those people- how do we get them back?”

Manahu sighed deeply and shook his head, like it should be obvious. “Ho’ihi.”

But Chin nodded in understanding. “Respect? I get it. They all disrespected you. And so have we? So if we make amends can we get them back?”

Manahu smiled, clearly pleased. “Good! Yes. If the time is right.”

“Just like that?” Chin frowned, shot a glance at Lou, who shrugged. “OK, so we’re sorry. We apologise for disrespecting you.”

“Thank you.” Manahu bowed his head a fraction, then turned his head to Lou.

Lou huffed out a breath, resigned. “Okay! Okay. We are _so_ sorry Mr Manahu the great Kahuna, we apologise and we’ll fix the damage to your house and bake you a freaking cake if that’s what it takes. Please can we have our colleagues back? And the kids? Pretty please?” He smiled sweetly, the smile nowhere close to reaching his eyes.

Manahu closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and nodded. “I know you don’t mean a word of it but I know this will make you think. That may have to be enough for now. Very well. Their journeys are complete. Now so is yours.”

Lou stared at him, incredulous. “Seriously? That’s it? So where are they? And wait just a damn minute. You said Steve and Danny’s journey ended in death. What did you…”

A muffled thump from the room above them was followed by a bang that literally shook the whole house.

Manahu smiled broadly. “It is done.”

Kono’s voice cut into ensuing stunned confused silence as she shouted down frantically from the floor above. “Oh my God. Paramedics- we need paramedics up here, _now!!”_

 

………………………….

 

 


	3. Journey's end

CHAPTER 3

Danny blinked his eyes open. He lay, looking up at a white ceiling, completely and totally confused, mind a blank. Every part of his body ached. He couldn’t remember ever having felt this tired and sore before in his whole life.

Then memory hit him like a freight train. He hauled in a panicked breath, trying to sit up, trying to scramble to his feet, but then hands were grabbing him, pushing him back down. Voices, scrambled together, were telling him everything was okay, but they were _wrong_ because the monster _had_ them.

He didn’t have the strength to fight. He sagged back down, breathing hard, gulping desperately for air. “Steve. Steve!” he tried to shout his partner’s name but it came our barely a whisper.

“Easy, easy, he’s fine. He’s right over there. He’s sleeping.”

Danny turned his head, struggled to focus on the blur beside him. Kono. It was Kono! He lay there in shock, shivers running through his body, unsure what was real and what was not, what had really happened and what had not.

He looked around fearfully, struggling to understand. He was in what appeared to be a nice clean hospital bed, in a nice clean hospital room with Kono holding his hand and Steve apparently asleep in a bed just feet away, Chin by his side.

Kono was speaking to him in a low, calm voice, stroking his hand as he lay frozen to the spot, unable to even begin to process. The two of them were suffering from exhaustion and dehydration, so Kono told him. They were gonna be fine. She told him that too, over and over again, her reassuring tone marred by concern which no doubt resulted at least in part from his own lack of verbal response. He couldn’t help it because his memories of his own terrifying last moments were just so _real_.

Kono’s soft, familiar voice and her tight grip eased him slowly into a hesitant acceptance.

He was alive. _They_ were alive.

He cracked an unconvincing smile in Kono’s direction then peered around, at himself, at Steve, trying to make sense of it. He was so sure it had all happened. But he saw no broken legs, no head injuries. No ragged tears from vicious claws.

But he could still _feel_ those claws _._ He could feel them gripping his back, ripping his flesh, wrenching him away from Steve even as his partner grabbed desperately at his arms, trying and failing to keep hold of him. He could feel the rush of air as he was dragged off the ground, up towards the beast’s mouth. He could see Steve, eyes wide with terror, fighting to get to his feet, trying to lunge towards him but falling inevitably back to the rocky cavern floor. He could feel jaws clamping on to his neck, teeth digging in. He could recall inescapable agony, his own blood, hot, thick and choking in the back of his throat, Steve’s frantic screams and then… nothing.

He touched shaking fingers to his neck, felt his own skin, smooth and undamaged.

Kono was still talking to him, he realized. He looked up. Time had to have passed without him even being aware of it because now Lou was in the room too, and Steve was awake. His partner was sitting up, propped on soft pillows, looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. They were all looking at him, in fact. Talking about him? Or waiting for him to speak, to answer some unheard question?

“Wh-what?” he stuttered.

Kono smiled gently, eyes swimming with concern. “Danny, hey. It’s okay. You with us this time?”

Danny nodded, staring at her dumbly.

“I was just wondering what happened. I mean you guys just disappeared. And when you came back… brah, there was blood all over the pair of you, your clothes were torn up, you weren’t moving. We thought… well, it doesn’t matter because you’re okay, you’re _not_ hurt. But where were you? Do you remember what happened?”

Danny looked at Steve, hand finding its way once more to his undamaged neck. Steve’s eyes tracked Danny’s movements, lingered on his neck, then he looked away abruptly, staring intently at his own hands, clasped in his lap.

“I’m not sure,” Danny settled on, “it was… dark. Steve?”

Steve shook his head. “Not a thing.” He didn’t look up.

A sick feeling was growing in Danny’s gut. Was he going mad? He was so sure it had been real. He had absolutely no idea how to even begin to process everything that he _thought_ had happened to them. None. And he had no desire at all to share any of it with anyone but Steve. But if Steve didn’t remember… maybe it _was_ all in his head. Maybe Danny was just losing it. In which case, the change in their relationship had never happened either and Danny felt that like an unexpected knife to the stomach. 

But at least Steve was alive. That was all that mattered. That _had_ to be all that mattered.

Chin was talking now, filling them in on everything that had happened from the team’s point of view. Danny tried to listen, tried to block out the images in his head, tried not to stare at Steve.

“Yeah, so Manahu has one hell of a lot to answer for. I’m struggling to get my head around what actually happened, but it seems the man is a powerful shaman. He has powers well beyond that traditionally associated with the kahuna and he’s widely feared. So he’s basically used magic to transport people… somewhere…. without their consent, essentially because he was pissed off. It’s hard to comprehend and clearly wrong… but I challenge you to come up with a way we can book him for this.... It’s a non-starter!”

Lou chipped in. “At least everyone’s okay. The missing kids are back too and they’re fine. Shaken up, but fine. Said they’d been wandering around some wood with freaking fairies in it that kept lecturing them about respect, if you can believe that. You guys… Manahu said some scary shit about you two but here you are, not dead, so I guess it was all hot air. We’re not blind though, guys. We can see you’re shaken to hell. You don’t wanna talk, we can’t make you. Just… please God at least speak to each other, okay? The doctors say you just need a little time to rest, you’re gonna be fine. Though I’m not so sure about myself, I’ll tell you that for nothin’, cause I sure as hell thought you were both dead when that lunatic zapped you back into the house. Jeez! My damn heart ain’t ever gonna be the same!”

There was a ripple of polite laughter from Kono and Chin at Lou’s attempt to lighten the mood, then Danny saw them exchanging concerned looks through the corner of his eye. He didn’t blame them but he couldn’t bring himself to even try to pretend he was okay.

Kono patted the back of his hand. “You sure you don’t remember what happened? You know you can tell us anything, right?”

Her voice was so gentle, so kind, that Danny wanted to scream. Instead he muttered something about being fine and needing to sleep, at least part of which was true, then closed his eyes. He feigned sleep, trying to shut out the feelings and images that assaulted his mind relentlessly. He must have actually fallen asleep at some point, his thoughts blending seamlessly with his nightmares, because when he opened his eyes again it was Steve who was sitting beside him, holding his hand, and the others were gone.

Steve met his tired gaze with haunted eyes. “Hey,” he rasped.

“Hey,” Danny responded in kind, entirely unsure what to say.

Steve opened and closed his mouth a few times, uncharacteristically hesitant. “You remember?” he asked eventually, voice a painful croak.

Danny stared at him for a second, then nodded. “Was it _real_? _”_

“I think so.” Steve murmured, then looked away, shame in his eyes.

Danny felt sick. Steve was _ashamed_. Of what? Of what they had done? Of what they had fleetingly become? When Steve finally spoke again, his words offered nothing in the way of reassurance. “I remember it too. I wish I didn’t.”

Danny felt sicker. “Wh-why?” he stammered, not really wanting to hear the answer but unable to help himself.

Then he watched in confusion as Steve’s eyes filled and tears began to fall, because crying was not something that Steve McGarrett did on anything even approaching a regular basis.

Danny bit his lip, heart beating fast, uncertain what to think, how to respond. “D-did it hurt you?”

Steve looked down at their joined hands and snorted, shook his head. “I guess. It came at me then when it finished with you. It did fucking hurt but then… just nothing. But that’s not what… that bit just doesn’t matter. Danny, I watched you die. I watched that thing tear you to pieces and I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it. I tried, I really did, but my leg… I just _couldn’t._ I couldn’t help you and I’m so, so sorry. I _watched you die_. You think I want to talk about that? You think I want to remember _any_ of it?”

Steve looked up, searched his face, squeezed his hand. “You think I want to remember how it felt to lose you?”

Danny shook his head, not trusting his voice.

Steve squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then blew out a long, calming breath and swiped at his wet cheeks. He looked into Danny’s eyes and smiled hesitantly, then leant forwards and pressed a soft kiss to his mouth. He sat back again. “That’s the only part I want to remember. I don’t want to lose you again, Danny.”

Danny stared at him in shock for a moment, then reached up, grabbed the nape of his neck and pulled him in. He kissed him, hard and hungry. It was everything, everything they were going to be. The promise of love, of a life together.

The promise of happily ever after.

THE END

 


End file.
